2008 Woodie Awards
Riots brake out as Haitians go hungry
By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: World
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ U.N. peacekeepers used rubber bullets and tear gas to chase away hungry Haitians who stormed the presidential palace Tuesday demanding the resignation of President Rene Preval. The riots over soaring food prices turned into looting as terrified residents huddled inside.
The protesters tried to break into the presidential palace Tuesday morning by charging its chained gates with a rolling dumpster, demanding Preval step down.
"We are hungry! He must go!" they cried.
Preval, a soft-spoken leader backed by Washington, was inside the palace at the time, aides said. He has made no public statements since the riots began last week.
Brazilian soldiers in blue U.N. helmets arrived on jeeps and assault vehicles, forcing the protesters away from the palace gates. But as the protests turned into looting, the outnumbered peacekeepers only watched as people broke into shops around the palace.
After dark, the looting spread. People broke into stores and factories on a road to the airport, witnesses said, amid blackouts reported from Port-au-Prince's center up through its densely populated hills. Frightened residents barricaded themselves behind locked doors.
On one rain-drenched street, a group of men swarmed a slow-moving car and tried to drag its driver through the window. She appeared to get away.
The U.S. Embassy suspended visa services and routine operations Wednesday because of the violence, and advised Americans in Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes to remain indoors. Embassy buildings were pelted with rocks Tuesday but there were no reports of injuries to U.S. citizens.
Food prices, which have risen 40 percent on average since mid-2007, are causing unrest around the world. But nowhere do they pose a greater threat to democracy than in Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries where in the best of times most people struggle to fill their bellies.
"I think we have made progress in stabilizing the country, but that progress is extremely fragile, highly reversible, and made even more fragile by the current socio-economic environment," U.N. envoy Hedi Annabi said Tuesday after briefing the Security Council.
The protesters tried to break into the presidential palace Tuesday morning by charging its chained gates with a rolling dumpster, demanding Preval step down.
"We are hungry! He must go!" they cried.
Preval, a soft-spoken leader backed by Washington, was inside the palace at the time, aides said. He has made no public statements since the riots began last week.
Brazilian soldiers in blue U.N. helmets arrived on jeeps and assault vehicles, forcing the protesters away from the palace gates. But as the protests turned into looting, the outnumbered peacekeepers only watched as people broke into shops around the palace.
After dark, the looting spread. People broke into stores and factories on a road to the airport, witnesses said, amid blackouts reported from Port-au-Prince's center up through its densely populated hills. Frightened residents barricaded themselves behind locked doors.
On one rain-drenched street, a group of men swarmed a slow-moving car and tried to drag its driver through the window. She appeared to get away.
The U.S. Embassy suspended visa services and routine operations Wednesday because of the violence, and advised Americans in Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes to remain indoors. Embassy buildings were pelted with rocks Tuesday but there were no reports of injuries to U.S. citizens.
Food prices, which have risen 40 percent on average since mid-2007, are causing unrest around the world. But nowhere do they pose a greater threat to democracy than in Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries where in the best of times most people struggle to fill their bellies.
"I think we have made progress in stabilizing the country, but that progress is extremely fragile, highly reversible, and made even more fragile by the current socio-economic environment," U.N. envoy Hedi Annabi said Tuesday after briefing the Security Council.
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